Horse Illustrated Magazine

Let’s cut to the chase: If you watch through the entire video above, you’ll see one of the most unusual obstacles in the sport of eventing. At the end of this modified cross-country course, horse-and-rider pairs get sent through—literally through—the VIP spectator tent, and while they’re in there, they clear a jump with what looks like impossibly little headroom. The whole video is worth a view, but no one will blame you for skipping ahead to see that bit. It’s around the 4:25 mark.

So what is the Wellington Eventing Showcase? For the past three years, the showcase has brought the sport of three-day eventing to fans of show jumping during the Florida winter show season. Many of the world’s top event riders are invited to display all three phases of their sport in a condensed format. The show jumping and cross-country phases take place on the same day. And while the cross-country phase normally takes place over a sprawling course, most of the Wellington course is confined to grass fields for a more spectator-oriented experience. Add to that the $100,000 in prize money and Wellington is quite a unique event.

Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless (aka Johnny) are veterans of four-star level competition, the highest level in three-day eventing. Wallace shared her experience at this year’s showcase with a helmet cam video that gives fans a rider’s-eye view of this unusual cross-country test.

Elisa and Johnny finished in 18th place overall. Boyd Martin won his third consecutive Wellington Eventing Showcase, this time with Welcome Shadow. Click here to see full results.

Leslie Potter is a writer and photographer based in Lexington, Kentucky. www.lesliepotterphoto.com